Happy Hump Day - aka time for a new 1-Minute Climate Snippet. We're focusing on the Built Environment sector, which is responsible for 37% of GHG emissions.
Buildings — where we live, work, dine, and reside. They’re the very foundation of nearly everything we do, hence why they're a major culprit for greenhouse gasses — both in their construction and ongoing use (heard the term embodied carbon? Lean more here).
According to Science Based Targets buildings account for roughly 37% of global greenhouse gas emissions each year.
The challenges in this sector are threefold — we must address refrigerants, shift our energy sources, and create more energy-efficient solutions.
We can significantly reduce building emissions through improvements to energy optimization, retrofits to existing buildings, replacing fossil fuel energy sources, and doing away with polluting refrigerants.
The best part about all of this is that when buildings become more efficient they also become safer and more affordable. Companies like Icon, H2green steel, Build Reuse, Electric Hydrogen, Assembly OSM, and Wildcat Discovery Technologies are doing the dirty work to ensure our buildings are clean.
Buildings and urban environments need to be designed and retrofitted to handle extreme heat, ensuring they remain energy-efficient, safe, and comfortable.
Around the world, the impacts of climate change—rising temperatures, shifting patterns of rainfall, more frequent and intense extreme weather, and rising sea levels—are affecting all types of infrastructure, from energy and transport to water, waste, and telecommunications.